Along the Connecticut River, An Effort to Redefine Curb Appeal

By GAIL BRACCIDIFERRO

Published: April 18, 2004

EVAN GRISWOLD'S highest-priced real estate listing is currently a $2.7 million property on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River in Lyme and comes complete with a 3,000-square-foot house. But the property also comes with an unusual restriction.

With more riverfront land buyers demolishing modest homes to make way for mansions, and the sensitive river ecosystems increasingly threatened by development, the owners are stipulating in the deed that the house be no larger than 4,000 square feet, said Mr. Griswold, a real estate agent and a conservationist.

The size restriction demonstrates how upset many residents along the lower Connecticut River are about development in an area the Nature Conservancy in 1993 called one of the last great places in the western hemisphere.

Many of the same residents praised the Connecticut River Gateway Commission's most recent efforts to ensure that residential development along the river is kinder to the environment. In February, the commission adopted guidelines that more strictly control development of large homes situated within sight of the river in the eight towns closest to where the river spills into Long Island Sound.

''The Connecticut River is recognized in so many ways for its unique biological qualities,'' Mr. Griswold, of Old Lyme, said. ''I personally applaud the Gateway. This may make people give pause if they are thinking about building a 6,000-square-foot house or a 12,000-square-foot house.''

Linda Krause, the executive director of the Connecticut River Estuary Regional Planning Agency and a staff representative to the commission, said the new guidelines are the first major revision made to the commission's standards in about 25 years. The biggest change stipulates that houses of 4,000 square feet or larger proposed within the 30,000-acre Gateway Zone be allowed only with a special zoning permit.

The new guidelines also double from 50 feet to 100 feet the distance a building can be constructed from the river; more stringently define the 35-foot maximum building height, call for increased planting to help screen houses from view from the river; and generally require houses to be situated in a manner to ensure they blend into the natural riverfront landscape.

''It had been pretty much 'Build what you like,''' Ms. Krause said of residential development on the river. ''Then, about seven or eight years ago, we started to get a lot of calls about the very large houses being built and people saying, 'How can you let this happen?'''

The Gateway Commission grew out of a 1965 federal proposal to establish a national recreation area on the Connecticut River, whose official state water quality at the time was deemed suitable only for the transportation of sewage and industrial waste. Riverfront residents opposed the federal designation, however, arguing that intense recreation would only further denigrate the river.

A geological quirk that had created shifting sandbars near the river's mouth had prevented urban development there and residents said they wanted to work to preserve the river, rather than attract more tourists to its banks. In 1973, after rejecting the federal proposal, the state passed legislation establishing the Gateway Commission to protect the scenic, historic and environmental resources of the lower river.

Ms. Krause said the Gateway Zone extends some 30 miles north from the river's mouth and encompasses land from the ridgeline to the water on both riverbanks. The eight towns within the zone -- Old Saybrook, Old Lyme, Lyme, Chester, Deep River, Essex, Haddam and East Haddam -- abide by the commission's guidelines by encompassing the stipulations into local zoning regulations, she said.

''Initially, the concern was mainly for industrial and commercial development,'' Ms. Krause said. ''But then we started getting these very large houses.''

In 1999, the commission began thinking about updating its standards as it heard more complaints about erosion from building sites, clear cutting of trees, and riverbank terracing that allowed houses to create a residential skyline above the riverbanks, she said. The revisions adopted in February came after a long series of meetings, public hearings and discussions with local planning and zoning officials.

''The reason we did this is the comments we got from the people who live and work and recreate on the river,'' said the commission's chairman, Fred Vollono of Ivoryton. ''There were many, many people who contacted the Gateway Commission.''

J. Melvin Woody of Lyme, the commission's vice chairman, said residents asked that the revisions go even further in restricting new development and rebuilding along the river.

''We keep hearing tales of people who have done disastrous things,'' he said. ''People who come to live on the river come for the views and they are basically ruining it for each other.''

Some residents said they were not happy about the new guidelines, however. They worry about infringement to personal property rights and said they did not want local zoning commissions becoming guardians of residential good taste.

''Gillette Castle never would have been built under these guidelines,'' John Lord said, referring to the historic fieldstone castle that is now part of a state park.

The castle is perched atop an East Haddam hillside.

''This impinges on people's right to build a house of the design they so choose,'' he said of the guidelines.

Mr. Lord said he lives in an 8,000-square-foot house he built two years ago on an Old Saybrook property with 350 feet of riverfront.

''We hope it fits into the land,'' he said. ''All of us feel a trust to preserve this river. But everybody has a right to exercise his own judgment.''

Chris Caulfield, of Caulfield &Ridgway Inc., custom home builders based in Centerbrook, said he is concerned about the way the guidelines may be interpreted by the Gateway towns. Mr. Caulfield said he builds many million-dollar houses along the water.

''It opens it up to the subjective opinion of a group of people on a commission,'' he said. ''Someone may not like a house to have too many windows and say 'change that.' A person could spend thousands of dollars on an architectural design and they could just throw that out.''

Ms. Krause maintains that the guidelines will not impose the design restrictions some opponents are concerned about and will not create architectural review boards.

''It is not the size of the house, but how it is presented,'' she said. ''This is in no way intended to reduce the ability to have a view. What it is intended to do is to show us the context and minimize the appearance from the river. Just try not to make it yell.''

Nathan Frohling, director of the lower Connecticut River program for the Nature Conservancy, said plant and animal species ranging from migratory songbirds and bald eagles to Atlantic salmon and fresh water mussels depend on the river, necessitating development controls.

''We've supported these guidelines,'' he said. ''There is important balancing of complete freedom and regulations to preserve the most important areas.''

Mr. Griswold said as a real estate agent he knows first-hand the demand for large riverfront homes, but he does not think the restrictions will impose a hardship.

''The Connecticut River Valley is a unique place,'' he said. ''We hope the river is attracting people with a little sense of proportion.''

Photos: The Connecticut River Gateway Commission, above, meeting in Old Saybrook. The commission is trying to control development of larger homes on the river and recently approved a guideline that would allow for houses of 4,000 square feet or more in the 30,000-acre Gateway Zone to be permitted only with special permit. Left, markers indicate properties on the river that have been acquired or are about to be acquired by the commission.; Many residents along the lower Connecticut River are upset about development. Above, a view of large houses on Ely's Ferry Road in Lyme. (Photographs by C.M. Glover for The New York Times)